Marian Havel – Another Czech Giant

By Robert Neuhauser

April 1st, 2002

Born in Jihlava, Czech Republic, Marian Havel is the latest gem from the once hockey famouscity. Thirty years ago the mighty Jihlava dynasty ruled the Czechoslovakian First League(the same level as the Czech Extraleague right now), winning an unprecendented numberof championship titles. Generation of players like the Jiri and Jaroslav Holik (father ofDevils’ Bobby Holik), current Czech senior national team coach Josef Augusta or defensemanJan Suchy is unforgettable in the minds of fans of the Jihlava team. After winning the last ofthe 11 championship titles in early 90’s the level of hockey in Jihlava began slowly to decrease andafter some time the team found itself in the Czech Div I league, where it is till now. Still,solid players learned the tools of the hockey trade in Jihlava and quality players were risen.For example Josef Marha, the former NHLer, now in the Swiss Elite League. When lookingat the rearguards, then you can see Marek Posmyk, the Tampa Bay Lightining player, whois now playing for Zlin, but is from Jihlava, or Petr Svoboda, in the system of Toronto MapleLeafs. The last one with very solid chances on a NHL career is without doubt the offensivesparkplug Marian Havel.

Marian Havel was the youngster of a hockey family. His dad, a hockey coach, brought both hissons to the game. The older Lukas just like the three years younger Marian. So Marian hadhockey all around him and it was only a question of time before he also starts to attendregular hockey practices. He could see his brother taking the first strides and his dadcoaching the kids and just like most the kids, he was eager to jump in and play. Also his dadand brother were always the only hockey role models for Marian.

Duringwinter he learned how to skate, with his brother and dad following him. Quite surprisinglyit took more time than usual before Marian started playing organized hockey. At the age of 7,when most of the kids have at least one-year experience with hockey, Marian only startedplaying hockey. Plus, he wasn’t regularly attending hockey practices till he was 10. Gifted forsports, Marian Havel was naturally talented so even if he still wasn’t in the system ofJihlava, he could be a huge force in the games with his agility, competitivness and creativityon the puck. That didn’t leave the youth coaches calm and so at 10 Marian was finally in thegame full-time. Then he saw something what we call a rocket-like career. The flashy forward was totallyoutstanding against competition of his own age, so since the very beginning of his careerhe was facing older opponents. In fact, till midget age Marian Havel was always the youngestplayer on the team. But also one of the best. With his quickness and finesse moves he couldbeat the opposing players by many ways, which brought him lots of individual trophies fromyouth tournaments.

Marian Havel is a very good skater who is able to reach top speed in a few strides, can makefast turns and has an above-average lateral movement. He handles the puck very smoothly andis able to maneuver through traffic. Marian is blessed with exceptional vision and hockeysense, which enables him to make very smart passes. But his biggest offensive asset is hisbooming slap shot. He has a fast release and the shot isn’t telegraphed, he could onlyrelease it more frequentely. That’s a thing for him to work on. His wrist shots are quitefast and accurate, but the slapper is a dangerous blast.Marian is a threat on every powerplay and he is also improvingthe defensive side of his game. He didn’t play very defensively back in the Czech Republic, butthese days he is getting better in this skill. Marian likes to have the puck on his stick,where his creativity and offensive talent explodes. He is willing to fight for the pucks,and also doesn’t refuse to play hard. Even if his size isn’t prototypical, Marian can make ortake a hit to make the play. His goal is to develop into an all-round forward, one he islikely to become.

His talent earned the first recognition in the summer of 1998, when he was invited to theselection camp for the Czech Under-16 team of 1983 born players. The underaged Marian Havelleft a very good impression and after being scratched from the first tournament he finallyput on the Czech national team jersey for a three-game series against the Russians. The onegoal he scored there was enough to share the lead with Petr Domin and Tomas Mickain goals scored among the Czech forwards, because only defenseman Lukas Krajicek scored morethan once. That was it for Marian’s international career for a while.

He had a good underage season in the midget Extraleague and after consultation with his parents,he finally decided that he wants to follow his brother’s footsteps and come over to NorthAmerica. A quite risky decision for a 15-year old kid to cross the pond and enter an otherculture, where is a different language spoken. But Marian was feeling that he is mature enoughto handle the situation and soon he was sitting aboard a plane heading North America. Farfrom being eligible for the CHL Import Draft, he chose to play Midget AAA for the Pikes PeakColorado Springs.

The year in Colorado helped Marian’s hockey development a lot. After overcoming the usualproblems with learning the language and homesickness, Marian felt very comfortable in theMidget AAA league and he got used to the different North American style. There he combinedhis finesse skill with the typical North American determination, intensity and feistiness.So that after the year was gone, Marian wasn’t also a different personality, but also a better player.He had the choice of continuing his midget career and wait for the CHL draft or return homeand going on with his international career. He felt that the stint in Colorado helped hisimprovement enough and returned to Jihlava for one more year.

There he could make use of everything he learned in North America. He was started his seven-gamereign of doom in the midget Extraleague, where he terrorized the opponents with more thanfour points per game average! Among the Jihlava midgets Havel notched 29 points for 11 goalsand 18 assists in 7 games, which was even good for the 49th place in midget Extraleaguescoring overall after the whole season was over. If he would stay with the midgets for thewhole season, he would definitely set a new scoring record, because these numbers are veryrare now. Jiri Hudler is the last man to hit the 100-point plateau with his 114-point effortfrom 1998-99.

No wonder that Marian, who likes to wear the number 22 on his jersey, was immediately promotedto the Jihlava junior team. Even if being the youngest player, Marian Havel wasselected captain. For the first time in his career Marian wore the ‘C’ on his jersey and hewas aware of this fact. He teared up even the junior Extraleague, quickly earning thereputation as one of the Czech blue-chippers for the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and a possiblefirst-rounder. In 13 games he scored 17 points for 8 goals and 9 assists, also very impressive stats. There was only one level ahead of him – promotion to the seniorteam and a debut in the Div I league. That happened quite soon and just as Marian turned 17,he also became a regular with the Jihlava seniors. He states this as his biggest success inhockey so far. Playing against players where some of them were twice as old as him gave himalso a lot of experience. Still he was able to find ways how to score. In 25 games he amassed 4 points for 2 goals and 2 assists, this includes also 3 playoff contests.

His international career also was off to another hot start. During 2000-2001 Havel was playingfor all the Under-17, Under-18 and Under-20 teams! The stint with the Under-20 team wasrelatively a short one, more important were his showings for the Under-17 and Under-18 teams.For the team of his birthyear, the Under-17 team, Marian played on two tournaments, thefirst being the famous World Hockey Challenge. He scored two goals there, finishing tiedfor second in goals scored with Kamil Kreps, Tomas Csabi and Jakub Klepis. The result ofhis Under-17 career in 2000-2001 was 6 points for 2 goals and 4 assists in 9 games.

For the Under-18 team he appeared also on two occasions, in two exhibition games againstSlovakia before the Under-18 WJC and then also on the Under-18 WJC. In the exhibition gameshe recorded two assists, securing his spot on the WJC team.

The Under-18 WJC was quite succesfull for the Czech team, even if they finished on the fourthplace. Also Marian Havel left a solidimpression when he scored 2 goals and added 1 helper in the 7 games of the WJC. The first goalcame in the third game, which turned out to be a 7:2 win over Norway. At first Marian Havelwas a bit struggling on the first line with Milan Michalek and Jiri Novotny but after he gotassigned to the third line his play began to flourish and Marian showed his soft hands andfinesse skill. The second goal was in the semifinal game against Russia, a 8:3 loss of theCzechs. The only problem was that the Russians were already leading 6:0 when Havel foundthe net…

Marian didn’t need lots of time in deciding whether to stay home or come over to the CHL. Hisbrother Lukas was returning home from the Brampton Battalion and Marian Havel was sure thathe’ll take the CHL route to the NHL. Long before the CHL Import Draft Havel was pegged asthe possible first overall selection, a total offensive package.

On the draft day the Vancouver Giants really didn’t hesitate to grab him with the firstoverall pick and Marian Havel became the first import player of the new WHL franchise. Alongwith Robin Kovar the two became the only Europeans on the team, as there is a limit of twoEuropeans per team in the CHL. Already during the camp the two Czechs displayed their skillsin the scrimmages and Marian Havel helped Robin Kovar in his first steps in North America. Bothmade the team without any further trouble and dressed up for the inaugural game of theGiants. While Kovar got injured, Marian Havel had a decent game. The next contest, which turnedout to be the first Giants win, was great for Marian. He scored his first WHL hattrick!

But that was it for a while. Havel’s offensive numbers decreased and he learned how defensiveplay is important in avoiding coach Milan Dragicevic’s doghouse. Now more aware defensively,Marian Havel has his scoring touch rediscovered and is putting up impressive numbers fora rookie on a team which comes through growing pains. Till now Marian Havel scored 32 points for 17goals and 15 assists in 61 games.

He was ranked 123rd by the Central Scouting Bureau’s mid-term ranking but he is almost a lockto move up. It is very likely that he’ll boost the Czech roster for the Under-18 WJC and hecan do great things there. After that we’ll see where he’ll be selected. He states, that helikes every NHL team and has no favorite squad. So whoever will pick him, Marian will be happy.Good luck!